Salute to Soil Conservation
February 24, 2022 | B1
TSnews
Rooftop farm earns urban conservation award By Travis Mounts TSnews news@tsnews.com The new RISE Farm, an urban farm that sits on top of the new Fidelity Bank car park in downtown Wichita, received an urban conservation award at the recent Sedgwick County Conservation District banquet. Leah Dunnar-Garcia and her husband, Ron Garcia, own and operate Firefly Farm just east of Wichita. The have partnered with Fidelity to create RISE Farm, which Dunnar-Garcia describes as a hybrid operation. “It’s a cross between an urban farm and green roof technologies,” she said. “They knew they wouldn’t use the top floor right away.” The farm sits on the fifth floor, and is breaking ground in who it caters to and how the work gets done. Dunnar-Garcia said the first goal is to sell as much product as possible to First Mile Canteen, which will open soon on the first floor of the car park. It is owned by Nick Korbee, who opened First Mile Kitchen in early 2021 at Bradley Fair in east Wichita. Korbee was a New York City restaurant owner who relocated to Kansas to be
Contributed photo
The new RISE Farm, located on top of the Fidelity Bank car park in downtown Wichita, will supply produce to First Mile Canteen on the first floor and to other Wichta restaurants. The farm earned an urban conservation award at the recent Sedgwick County Conservation District banquet.
closer to his wife’s family. The “first mile” idea is for your dinner to be as close as possible to its sources. Dunnar-Garcia said the second goal will be to sell as much produce as possible to other Wichita restaurants. Her Firefly Farm is an organic operation that opened in 2015 with an extensive offering of heirloom tomatoes and a few other summer crops. The farm started with just three restaurant customers. The list of customers
now includes Public at the Brickyard, Vora Restaurant European, The Belmot, Napoli Italian Eatery, and First Mile Kitchen. Firefly Farms opened an online store in 2021 and now has retail offerings, too. Customers purchase online, and there are two pick-up days per week. It is not open to walk-in customers at this time. Dunnar-Garcia explained the reasoning for targeting restaurants, saying that she would prefer making two sales of 50
pounds of tomatoes versus 50 sales of two pounds each. “The scale seemed right to me,” she said. With more than 30 restaurants as customers, it is difficult to argue with the philosophy.
“Wichita is quickly becoming a food town. That is a good thing for the community,” she said. “You’re eating two-deep. I’m a big supporter of local.” There are challenges to farming on a rooftop. The
first consideration is the weight of the soil. While Dunnar-Garcia signed her contract with Fidelity Bank last October, she has been working with the bank for roughly 1-1/2 years. There was a lot of research plus visits to rooftop farms in St. Louis and Chicago. She worked with the building’s architect and structural engineer. “We had to take into account rain and snow loads, and soil weight,” Dunnar-Garcia said. The starting point is Rooflite soil, which is an aggregate blown full of air. That makes up about 70 percent of the soil, and is mixed with 20 percent compost and 10 percent sand. It is a lot different than the clay soil found on regular farms in this area. This type of soil does not have a lot of biological activity, so things high in fungi and bacteria are added in. “You needed to add in the ‘good stuff,’” Dunnar-Garcia said, adding
See ROOFTOP, Page B4
Michelle Leidy-Franklin/TSnews
Dylan Bristor accepts his Soil Conservation Award from Phil White of Impact Bank.
Bristor honored for high tunnels By Sam Jack TSnews
Dylan Bristor received a Soil Conservation Award at the recent Sumner County Conservation District banquet, recognizing his work farming produce using two high tunnels. High tunnels, also known as hoop houses, are greenhouses, Bristor explained, but unlike some greenhouses, they use ground soil and are not climate controlled. High tunnels protect produce from the wind, allow for controlled irrigation, and extend the growing season. “You don’t get too much of a head start, because they do cool off, especially like now when the nights
are really long, it will cool off down to basically the outside temperature overnight,” Bristor said. “But you get a couple of weeks, those nights when it gets chilly just for an hour or two, the greenhouse will be enough to hold them.” This is Bristor’s third year working with this kind of agriculture, and his second year with two high tunnels instead of one. His operation is on land owned by his uncle, Jon Bristor, located a few miles east of Wellington. “We do have some crops outside, and pre-COVID, we were just beginning to raise pasture-raised chickens. Then we had some laying hens, a few grassfed lambs, and we did have one beef cow. But every-
thing got out of control there with COVID, and I didn’t know if we’d get into a butcher or not, so I got rid of all the critters; we’re hoping to get back to that sometime,” Bristor said. “The greenhouses are the most profitable, really.” Bristor said he had always been interested in the outdoors. He got more interested in agriculture, and high tunnels specifically, during college, when he had a job at Britt’s Farm and Pumpkin Patch, near Manhattan. Now Bristor works as an in-home health care
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Salute to Soil Conservation
B2 | February 24, 2022
TSnews
Hopsons win Conservation Award
By Sam Jack TSnews
At the Sedgwick County Conservation District’s annual banquet, Jan and Bruce Hopson were awarded the 2021 Conservation Award, recognizing their efforts to add to and improve erosion control systems on a half-section of land they own about three miles west of Peck. The project was designed by National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) soil conservation technician Mike Wallace, and dirtwork was executed by Conway Springs’ Lange Excavating. Tyson Koontz installed block structures. Martin and David Ternes, who rent the land and farm it, also cooperated during the three-year project. Jan Hopson noted that terraces installed by her parents, Stanley and Izetta Henderson, in the early 1950s, were found still in fairly good shape nearly 70 years later. The new project entailed adding some additional terraces and making repairs. “That’s showing that our family was interested
in conserving the soil. It’s always been an attitude in our family, of improving the land and conserving soil,” Hopson said. Hopson now lives with her husband, Bruce, near Clearwater, but she was born on the farm west of Peck and has fond memories of working and playing there. “I grew up learning how to work and help out,” she said. “I was driving a wheat truck by the time I was 12 or 13. It was just a family effort. I did have one brother, Ronald; unfortunately, he was killed when he was 29. That was a tragedy. But we survived.” Jan Hopson’s family history with the land goes back even further than her own childhood. The land once bordered a railroad line, now defunct, that connected Mulvane and Clearwater. Hopson’s great-grandfather, R.J. Huckle, who had survived a Civil War POW camp in Kentucky, brought his family west to settle in the area. He helped found a little town named in his honor – anchored by the railroad and complete with its own Huckle, Kansas,
Dale Stelz/TSnews
Jan and Bruce Hopson were awarded a 2021 Conservation Award for their efforts to add to and improve erosion control systems on their land near Peck.
post office. “R.J. served at the Statehouse in Topeka in the late 1800s, and he felt there was a need for the railroad service to come through there, and was instrumental in making that happen,” Hopson said. The land that hosted the town of Huckle and
the railroad line has been returned to agricultural use, and it is hard to find any trace of them now, Hopson said. Jan Hopson and her husband, Bruce, met each other in grade school, married after finishing high school, and went to K-State together.
“I feel very blessed that my husband believes in the soil, or having farmland, as much as I do,” she said. “Of course, his grandparents were on a farm, so it’s not like this was foreign to him.” Hopson felt she was really accepting the Conservation Award on behalf of
generations of her family who have stewarded the land. “I didn’t say it in public, but my husband and I are both honored to receive this award. I feel like I’m receiving it for my grandparents and parents, because they saw the need,” she said.
Water award recognizes major project in Sumner Co. By Travis Mounts TSnews news@tsnews.com
Kevin Stonehocker un-
derstands the benefits and the challenges of water as it relates to farming. A fifth-generation farmer, Stonehocker’s
homestead has a mile of the Ninnescah running through it. It floods about every 10 years, and there is not much anyone can do
about that. But water issues on another piece of ground were able to be fixed, and Kevin and his wife, Moni-
ca, received a water quality award from the Sumner County Conservation District for their efforts. The land is located northwest of Wellington. They put in a small waterway about 20 years ago, but recently it had not been working. “We put over a mile of waterways in,” Kevin Stonehocker said, explaining the project. There are two halfmile long waterways and a third, shorter one. That’s just the first portion. They will be putting in about 25,000 feet of terraces. That work is tentatively scheduled for summer 2023. Asked if the work done had already made a difference, Stonehocker laughed and said, “Yes.” “It think that field has every angle on it. It’s pretty hilly,” he continued. “We’ve seen some areas
already improve. We’re basically saving our field, our top soil.” In addition to improved drainage and saving soil, the terraces will help hold more water for crops. Stonehocker said a project like this takes years to complete. “They didn’t get that way overnight, and you won’t fix them overnight,” he said. The award, Stonehocker said, is a nice recognition. On the homestead, which sits just south of Clearwater in the northern part of Sumner County, Kevin and Monika have land on both sides of the Ninnescah River. He said he’s been dealing with water issues his entire life. “It’s nice to be able to fix a field, and to be able to get an award for it,” he said.
Michelle Leidy-Franklin/TSnews
Monika and Kevin Stonehocker added more than a mile of waterways to a piece of farm ground they have northwest of Wellington. The work will continue as they add terraces in the future.
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Salute to Soil Conservation
February 24, 2022 | B3
TSnews
Nick Hilger adds twist to family tradition By Michelle Leidy-Franklin TSnews mfranklin@tsnews.com
Nick Hilger grew up around small family farming operations in Sumner County, and is now adding his own twist as operator for the Keith B. Mortimer Test Trust farm. Jed Tencleve is the trustee. In 2020, Hilger began some no-till methods for the land and by 2021 his operation was full
no-till. He also began using cover crops for the land in 2020. For his efforts, Hilger was honored for his no-till and cover crop practices during the Sumner County Conservation District banquet on Saturday, Feb. 12. “New ways of farming are spreading and I am glad people are pushing in that direction,” said Hilger. “Farming practices need to change, and I am happy to do my part.” Hilger is not practicing soil
conservation methods on the farm he manages for the recognition. He is a humble farmer who believes in what he does. “Cover crops have a lot of benefits, they help create root structure that improves water retention and filtration,” said Hilger. “It protects the ground.” Hilger uses no-till methods, cover crops, and cattle in combination to protect and improve the soil. Creating healthy, bio-active soil that produces
healthy crops in a sustainable way is the way he chooses to make a difference. “I don’t preach it, whatever works for you, do it, I’m just focused on doing my part,” said Hilger. “I’m no leader in conservation methods, but I don’t mind sharing about it. We know that it works.” Hilger said this will always be the way he chooses to farm. He hopes to be able to incorporate cattle a bit more in the future
to help improve soil health. He is working in the direction he wants to see farming methods go and hopes that more farmers decide to join him. Hilger isn’t much of an awards guy, but he appreciated receiving the award from the conservation district for his methods. He is glad to see that conservation methods are catching on and plans to continue making a difference in his own corner of the world.
Slacks receive honor for terrace project
By Michelle Leidy-Franklin TSnews mfranklin@tsnews.com
Michael and Janice Slack were honored at the Sumner County Conservation banquet for building 35,000 feet of terraces on the farm land he operates. The land belongs to Everett Heasty Properties, LLC, and is managed by Kenneth L. Cooper. In the last five years, the Slacks have had more than 80,000 feet of terraces built on farmland that they manage. “We made up our minds a few years ago that we weren’t going to let this soil erode anymore,” said Michael. The Slacks are no strangers to conservation methods. They have been using no-till methods for 25 years. “My father taught me to leave farms better than I found them,” said Michael. “I work on farm land that has terraces on it that my father built.” Michael has a passion for farming and he always has. He grew up in a farming household, and before he and his future wife were out of high school, they rented their own farm to work. “I guess you could say I committed to the farm before I even committed to my wife,” said Michael. “But she really does de-
serve a lot of the credit for the success of our operation.” After getting married and moving to the farm, tough times hit Kansas farmers. Michael said that Sumner County lost 40 percent of its farmers in the early 1980s. He said he saw auction after auction where land and equipment were sold. To keep farming, Michael had to take a full-time job in town and Janice took over a lot of the farming duties. “I couldn’t have done it without her,” said Michael. “The truth is, she’s not a farmer’s wife, I’m a farmer’s husband. This is her career, too.” For 12 years, Michael worked in town while Janice managed the land. He put in a lot of hours coming home and working on the farm in the evenings and weekends. Eventually, he was able to return to full-time farming. “It’s not really work to me,” said Michael. “It’s a lot of hours, but it doesn’t really feel like work. I have my dream job.” Conservation techniques are a part of that dream for Michael. “I am reaping the benefits of the efforts of farmers before me,” he said. “I see this as my turn to give back. A lot of farmers are seeing the importance of
Michelle Leidy-Franklin/TSnews
Michael and Janic Slack earned a Soil Conservation Award for a terrace project completed on farmland belonging to Everett Heasty Properties, LLC.
these methods and they just don’t get the credit they deserve.” Michael believes the success of farming is a team sport. Landowners must give their operators
permission to use different methods, and government programs provide financial motivation to incorporate them. Knowledgeable organizations like conservation districts and
contractors are necessary to employ the methods along with new technology that allows farmers to be more precise and manage more land. “It takes a lot of people
to make this happen,” said Michael. “I really think the future of agriculture is bright. I look forward to seeing young people coming on and taking the ball and running with it.”
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Salute to Soil Conservation
B4 | February 24, 2022
Rooftop From Page B1 that it is all organic. The first crops were planted Nov. 1. She was thrilled with the results. “Everything did beautifully. I was amazed at how well we were able to grow things,” she said. “I feel very honored to have the opportunity to grow there.” The rooftop farm includes a tall tunnel. It is not quite a greenhouse; it is less permanent, and made of double-walled
polycarbonate. Dunnar-Garcia recently harvested radishes, curry turnips, carrots, beets and more. There also were eight different greens crops. She believes RISE Farm is one of the largest in the Midwest. The other ones she saw in this part of the country were only a quarter of the size. She said RISE Farm is more similar in size to rooftop farms on the coast, and is nearly the same size as Firefly Farm. RISE Farm won’t be open to the public, but Firefly Farm is. It added
retail sales and a food hub last year, for commercial and retail customers. Ten other vendors take part. They include other farmers, and other products include organic pasta, eggs, bread, local cheeses, canned products like jams, jelly and pickles, and two coffee producers. Dunnar-Garcia hopes that once the hub reopens in a few weeks, it will stay open year-round. For more information, go to www.fireflyfarmwichita. com and hit the “shop” button. All the vendors will be listed there, along with pick-up dates.
Dale Stelz/TSnews
Leah Dunnar-Garcia and Ron Garcia, third and fourth from left, receive their Urban Conservation Award at the recent Sedgwick County Conservation District meeting.
Johnson delivers keynote address Bristor From Page B1
Gilpatrick recognized for Buerki scholarship
Former Sedgwick County Soil Conservation District director Catherine Johnson was the featured speaker at the Febuary annual meeting and banquet. Johnson talked about the importance of soil and how it extends far beyond the farms and ranches and Sedgwick County. She shared a number of stories, and said that approximately two-thirds of Sedgwick
County land is agricultural. That has a huge impact on every person living in the county. She stressed the idea that “soil is sacred.” Taking care of the soil now and in the future will determine our collective legacy, she said. “Healthy soil equals healthy life,” she said, stressing the need for supporting conservation. Johnson now serves as community connector for The Neighboring Movement, which she helped found. The organization is described as a grassroots movement of people who
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believe a better world is possible and want to be part of the solution, according to its website. Hannah Gilpatrick, a graduate of Garden Plain High School, was recognized as the first winner of the $1,000 Lynn Buerki Memorial Conservation Award scholarship. Gilpatrick won the scholarship last spring, and is attending Kansas State University. Gilpatrick was not able to attend the banquet due to a big test the following day at K-State. She was represented by her parents.
provider Mondays through Thursdays, spending evenings and weekends working on his farm and traveling to markets. He grows a mix of cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes and other produce, selling under the name DB’s at farmers markets in Arkansas City, Winfield and Caldwell. He manages the market in Caldwell and is on the board of the nonprofit that runs the markets in Arkansas City and Winfield. “There’s a lot to learn, that’s for sure,” Bristor said. “Most of them were at least a couple of decades older than me, that sell there, but they were all very helpful and tried to help me get things figured out along the way. “I wish there were some more people interested in it, because we could definitely use more people doing it,” he added. “Some people think you don’t want the competition, but it’s definitely better when you have a bunch of
vendors at a market.” Bristor received National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) grants for each of his high tunnels, along with advice and assistance. “They’ve helped even with some of the other stuff, like the pasture land, they’ve come out and helped me with the forage and water,” he said. “I’m in there whenever I have some free time to ask some questions. They’re usually pretty helpful.” In the future, Bristor would like to add a couple more high tunnels. “It’s not a whole lot of extra work to do one more greenhouse,” he said. “I thought it’d be twice the work with two, but you get a lot better product. So I think we could add a couple more, maybe, and I also want to get back into the livestock and the eggs.”
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Catherine Johnson talks about the Soil Stories project and more during the Sedgwick County Conservation District annual meeting earlier this month.
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Salute to Soil Conservation
TSnews
February 24, 2022 | B5
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LEFT: The kindergarten coloring contest winners included Rocky Cutler and Faith Belmear, both of Caldwell. CENTER: Second grade coloring contest winners in attendance at the Sumner County Conservation District banquet were Sarah Frazier and Owen Church, both of Wellington. RIGHT: Poster contest winners in the grade 3-5 division included Lila Francisco and Lakin Pontious, both of Wellington.
Michelle Leidy-Franklin/TSnews
LEFT: First grade coloring contest winners in attendance were Elliana McNeil and Ashlynn Norris of Wellington, and Brayden Harrel of Conway Springs. RIGHT: Poster contest winners in the middle school division were, from left, Alleora Jones and Kinlee Tracy of Argonia, Avalin Hughes of South Haven, and Chloee Tracy of Argonia.
Students win coloring, poster contests
The winners of the annual youth coloring contest and poster contest were announced at the Sumner County Conservation District annual meeting and banquet. Several of the students were on hand to receive their awards. The coloring contest is held each year for students in kindergarten and first and second grades. The poster contest is held for students in grades 3 to 12. Cindy Johnston, teacher at Wellington Christian Academy, was the winner of the teacher participation award related to the coloring and poster contests. The Kansas Road Trip Weekend door prize was given to Michelle Leidy-Franklin of Conway Springs. The destination for the trip is to Lucas, Kan., is home to the Garden of Eden outdoor sculpture exhibit that was built in the early 1900s by Samuel P. Dinsmoor. Lucas was named “Grassroots Art Capital of Kansas” by
Gov. Bill Graves in 1996. Following are the coloring and poster contest winners.
Honorable Mention: Brayden Harrel, Kyle Trueblood Elementary, Conway Springs.
2022 Coloring Contest Winners Kindergarten 1st Place: Rocky Cutler, Caldwell Elementary School. 2nd Place: Faith Belmear, Caldwell Elementary School. 3rd Place: Sariah Givens, Caldwell Elementary School. Honorable Mention: McKinley Hiedeman, Caldwell Elementary School.
2nd Grade 1st Place: Harper Maudlin, Caldwell Elementary School. 2nd Place: Aeris Neito, Kennedy Elementary, Wellington. 3rd Place: Sarah Frazier, Wellington Christian Academy. Honorable Mention: Owen Church, Wellington Christian Academy.
1st Grade 1st Place: Ashlynn Norris, Wellington Christian Academy. 2nd Place: Elliana McNeil, Wellington Christian Academy. 3rd Place: Paisley Farmer, Wellington Christian Academy.
2022 Poster Contest Winners Grades 3-5 1st Place: Lakin Pontious, Wellington Christian Academy. 2nd Place: Lila Francisco, Wellington Christian Academy. 3rd Place: Ezekiel Cox, Wellington Christian Academy.
Contest winners
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Members of the Renwick FFA program were in attendance at the Feb. 15 Sedgwick County Soil Conservation District meeting and banquet. Renwick FFA has students at both Garden Plain and Andale high schools.
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Grades 6-8 1st Place: Kinlee Tracy, Argonia Middle School. 2nd Place: Alleora Jones, Argonia Middle School. 3rd Place: Avalin Hughes, South Haven Junior High. Honorable Mention: Chloee Tracy, Argonia Middle School.
FFA members attend
The Sedgwick County Soil Conservation District honored the winners of its second grade coloring contest during the annual meeting and banquet, held on Feb. 15. Pictured from left are winners Locke Bergen, Lily Lucero and Lulabelle Huebner.
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